Review 42: The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Rating a 2.5 stars, more thoughts soon on why this one didn't work well for me.

This book started out strong and unique. Or at least unique for me. I haven't read a book about the seven or maybe eight deaths of someone. The tone was whimsical, and seemed like the book would be a real treat.

While it quickly dropped the whimsy, the story was still interesting. It foretold several of the almost deaths of Stella Fortuna, then went back to the beginning; the days of when her mother was young and met her future husband, in rural Italy. This part of before Stella, and even up through some of her childhood was an interesting story. The place and time was solid and you were right there with this poor family and feeling for them and their plight, especially when we started having the near deaths of Stella.

Then as the family grew and Stella got older, perhaps somewhere when they immigrated to America, the story just sort of lost it's way. It got bogged down and belabored over the fact that Stella did not want to marry, she wanted to keep her virginity. Of course she also didn't want to go to a convent, that also would be too stifling for her independence. Yet her overbearing, strict and uncaring father had insisted and kept insisting.

It is here the story takes a very long time, and where it fell. The story gave too much time over Stella's fear of losing her virginity that it overpowered the story. Perhaps this is what the author intended to write, how a woman in the early 20th Century didn't have a choice in her own life, that her father ruled her until her husband did. Perhaps, but it felt like the setup for was for something else.

There were certain aspects which became the central focus that was more than uncomfortable. The beginning about her almost deaths was interesting. This foray into the fear of the sexual act is not. And her fear wasn't based upon the very real possibility that childbirth could mean death.

I can see how some people may enjoy this book more than myself, with some historical aspects and there is the generational aspect, with immigrant experience. I wavered between giving it 2 or 3 stars, and I had to lean on the lesser aspect because all of the positive experience I had with the book was taken away.

Book rating: 2.5 stars


Thanks to Ecco/HarperCollins and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. Although I had access to an early review copy I listened to the audiobook from my public library. The narrator did an excellent job. My disappointment in the book was all about the story line and writing.

Review 41: A Death in the Rainforest

A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea by Don Kulick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was captivated by this book, and still am. To be honest, before I started reading it I thought it might be a tad boring. Boy was I wrong. This book I could honestly say is non-fiction that reads like fiction.

There was a very small portion early in the book that went over some language nerdy stuff, but it was brief and didn’t drag down the book at all. Kulick stated this book was written for the layperson, not an academic endeavor like his first book. Here he wanted to give to the world an insight on what life is like for the villagers in a small, very remote village, deep in the rainforest in Papua New Guinea. And Kulick wanted to tell the story of why their native language is dying, as it speaks to a larger issue of the world today, and of the past.

The village is Gapun and Tayap is the dying language Kulick studied. The villagers are now speaking Tok Pisin (a form of Pidgin English) instead. Papua New Guinea has more diverse languages than any other country; nearly every village has its own language. And they aren’t variants or dialects either, completely different language, and most spoken by about 500 people or less. It is their way of differing themselves where they came from.

Kulick tells a good story here. He intersperses action with explanations. He strings the reader along, and you don’t mind. There are some moments where you laugh, and some you cringe, and there are moments of disbelief.

Kulick states somewhat near the end of the book that there are no undiscovered tribes left. First contact can never be again, as that is now all in the past. It reminds me of Bill McKibben’s book The End of Nature, which the premise is that all nature has been affected by humans, and this goes as well for “wild” humans as well.

I could keep going, but this review is already getting long. I hope this book will be read, it’s well written, entertaining and informative. And to learn about this dying culture is important. It is the least we can do.


Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 40: Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?

Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To start off, this is the 4th book of McKibben's that I read this year, and all I've read. So far this one I've liked the least. Maybe I cherry picked better books? I don't know, but certainly after reading this one I'm not too inclined to run out and read more of his oeuvre.

This book feels like McKibben is just railing against us humans, and with some specifics towards certain people (current president, republicans, Koch brothers, etc.). Diatribe is what comes to mind. And there are tangents of other ways we as humans may be falling into not fully natural humans, with gene editing and potentially post-human with a blend of computer and biology. McKibben certainly will not go there, and desperately wishes we wouldn't.

The book isn't just about climate change, although that is a big part of the book. His solution is solar, about how much that makes sense. And it does, especially, and particularly in countries without all the energy infrastructure right now. But we need it in the modern west as well.

I do agree with McKibben's general outlook and what he is trying to do, but writing this book I don't think gets us any closer. There is serious doubt in my mind that the people whose minds need to change will read this book. Will people on the fence about climate change, pick up this book? Probably not. Yet, I'm still glad he wrote it.

McKibben has a way of being optimistic even when the outlook is grim. With this book I think he's turned a bit of a corner. Hopefully we, meaning in the west, and especially in the United States, will start to take this climate change more seriously and quickly change our ways. There isn't much time left. And that is perhaps why this book is so dire.



Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. Although I did have access to an early review copy, I listened to the audiobook version from my library.




Previously Read Bill McKibben books:

• The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life (NonFiction)
• (4 stars) Feb.-April.2019
• The End of Nature  (NonFiction)
• (5 stars)   Jan.-Feb.2019 
• Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance (Fiction) 
• (4 stars)  January.2019

Review 39: One Night in Georgia

One Night in Georgia by Celeste O. Norfleet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is one that may have more resonance with African Americans, particularly women, yet it is still a book for everyone to read. It's a nail biting novel of three college girls taking a week to drive back to school in a flashy convertible from New York to Atlanta in 1968. The main character, Zelda knows this is a mistake but joins her friends. Of course danger is ahead and they have surprisingly good interactions with some whites, and predictable racist police.

I found it hard to get placed into the novel. Zelda stood out, and though her other two friends had different characters they were difficult to identify at times. Actually several times I would get lost on understanding who was talking with the large group of people in the room.

Somewhat early in the book we find out some disturbing information about one of the friends. One would expect there to be more in the book, but no it seems to be forgotten. I'm not sure why this would be brought up if only to be ignored.

Despite the topic manner it is a quick easy read. There's a bit of romance thrown in that seems to help ease up on some of the tension.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to Amistad/HarperCollins and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.